Smart Technologies in Sustainable Agriculture: Current and Future Prospects

Author Biography

Pradeep Kumar, PhD, is currently working as an Associate Professor at the Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow, India. Prior to that, he served as an Assistant Professor at North Eastern Regional Institute of Science and Technology (NERIST), India, and as an International Research Professor/Assistant Professor at the Department of Biotechnology, Yeungnam University, South Korea. He was awarded a PBC Outstanding Postdoctoral Fellowship to work for more than three years as a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Biotechnology Engineering, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Dr. Kumar‘s research interests are in applied microbiology, phytopathology, biocontrol, nanotechnology, and phytochemistry. He has published more than 85 research and review articles in peer-reviewed journals, 30 international book chapters, and eight edited books (Springer Nature, Taylor & Francis Group) with more than 5196 citations and an h-index 31 and i10-index-66. He was awarded an Early Career Research Award (2017) from the SERB (Science and Engineering Research Board), Government of India, and he is currently handling four projects as principal or co-principal investigator, funded by government agencies. He is the recipient of several best and oral presentation awards and the Narasimhan Award from the Indian Phytopathological Society, India. He was also awarded with Emerging Scientist Award, Research Excellence Award, Young Scientist Award by various societies. Dr. Kumar is also serving as associate editor, academic editor, guest editor, and editorial board member of several peer-reviewed journals. Abhishek Singh, PhD, is currently a Researcher at Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Meerut, UP, India. His current work focuses on the effects of salinity stress on plant physio-biochemistry; morphology, anatomy, and the ultrastructure of cellular and subcellular organelles; and DNA, RNA, and protein damage; as well as the bioaccumulation, uptake, translocation, and toxic effects of metallic nanoparticles. One of his prominent works focused on "how nanoparticles interact with plants, soil, and the physio-biochemical, genomics, and nano-omics responses for sustainable agriculture," which he explained in significant detail. He has written 63 scientific publications, which includes 15 full-length articles, five books, 12 chapters (all of which can be found in the Scopus database), and six articles presented at scientific conferences, with more than 30 agriculture articles in different magazines. He has reviewed manuscripts for high-profile publications around the world and has been awarded a peer reviewer certificate from Springer. He serves on the editorial boards of numerous journals and societies. The state government of Uttar Pradesh, India, honored him with the Appreciation Award 2021. He earned his PhD from the reputed Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology in Meerut, UP, India, and an Integrated MSc in Biotechnology with a plant specialization from the prestigious Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture, Technology and Sciences in Allahabad, India. Vishnu D. Rajput, PhD, is working as an Associate Professor (Leading Researcher) at Southern Federal University. His ongoing research is based on soil contaminations, i.e, potentially toxic elements, and metallic nanoparticles, and investigating the bioaccumulation, bio/geo-transformations, uptake, translocation, and toxic effects of metallic nanoparticles on plant physiology; morphology, anatomy, the ultrastructure of cellular and subcellular organelles; cytomorphomatric modifications; and DNA damage. He comprehensively detailed the state of research in environmental science regarding "how nanoparticles/heavy metals interact with plants, soil, microbial community, and the larger environment." He has published 260 peer-reviewed highly rated full-length articles, 11 books, 40 chapters (Scopus indexed), and 35 conference articles. He is an internationally recognized reviewer (peer-reviewed 200 manuscripts for internationally reputed journals) and has received an outstanding reviewer certificate from Elsevier & Springer. He is an editorial board member of various high impacted journals. He received "Certificate of Appreciation 2019" and "Certificate of Honor 2020" from the Southern Federal University for outstanding contribution in academic, creative research, and publication activities. He has also received the prestigious status "Highly Qualified Specialist" by SFedU and the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He earned his degrees with good academic records in Agriculture and Biological Sciences: BSc Agriculture, followed by an MSc Agriculture from CS Azad University of Agriculture & Technology, India; PhD from Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, and postdoctoral degree from Southern Federal University, Russia. Tatiana Minkina, PhD, is the Head of the Soil Science and Land Evaluation Department of Southern Federal University and the Head of International Master‘s Degree Educational Program "Management and Estimation of Land Resources" (2015–2022 years, accreditation by ACQUIN). Her area of scientific interest is soil science; biogeochemistry of trace elements; environmental soil chemistry; and soil monitoring, assessment, modeling, and remediation using physicochemical treatment methods. She was awarded with a Diploma of the Ministry of Education and Science from the Russian Federation for her many years of work for the development and improvement of the educational process with significant contribution to the training of highly qualified specialists. Currently, she is handling projects funded by the Russian Scientific Foundation, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, and the Russian Foundation of Basic Research. She is a member of the Expert Group of Russian Academy of Science, the International Committee on Contamination Land, Eurasian Soil Science Societies, the International Committee on Protection of the Environment, and the International Scientific Committee of the International Conferences on Biogeochemistry of Trace Elements. She has 757 (389 in English) scientific publications to her credit. She is an invited editor of an open access journal by MDPI Water. She is also an editorial board member ofGeochemistry: Environment, Exploration, Analysis and Eurasian Journal of Soil Science. Anil Kumar Singh, PhD, is currently working at Dehaat Company, Gurugram, India, as a Remote Sensing GIS Research Lead. His research interest includes remote sensing, satellite meteorology, agrometeorology, hydrology, and watershed management. He has been involved in studying remote sensing applications in agriculture. He has published more than 12 publications, including peer-reviewed papers and book chapters. He is a peer reviewer for several international journals, such as Journal of Hydrologic Engineering, International Journal of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering, Journal of Hydrology, and Royal Meteorological Society. He received his BE in Information Technology from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, India, and MTech in Remote Sensing & GIS from SHUATS University, Prayagraj, Uttar Pradesh, India. He received a PG Diploma in Remote Sensing and GIS from IIRS (ISRO), Dehradun, India, and was awarded a PhD degree in "Climate Risk Management System for Agriculture" from the University of Allahabad, Prayagraj, India. He has also worked as a Senior Research Fellow at India Meteorology Department, India, from 2016 to 2020.